The writer next month begins his fifth year as executive director of the Detroit Greeways Coalition. This is reposted with permission from its blog.
By Todd Scott
WDET held its annual Festivus Airing of Grievances show Dec. 20 and, perhaps surprisingly, the Cass Avenue bike lanes rose to the top.
"The problem is that they put these bike lanes in," said panelist Candice Fortman. "So now you've got the bike lanes and you've got the parking in the middle of the street. And then you’ve got one lane of traffic, and buses and cars and snow, and it’s too much."
Another panelist, Matt Marsden, said he doesn't see cyclists use the lanes and flashed his behind-the-windshield bias by saying "I'm a commuter," apparently unaware that bicyclists commute, too.
Cass Avenue is among Detroit throughfares with shared transportation access.
(Detroit Greenways Coalition photo)
These grievances are not news to us, but we think many miss the larger picture.
We do appreciate the comment from a listener name Jennifer, who correctly noted that Cass Avenue got bike lanes in exchange for MDOT making Woodward much less safe for biking by letting the streetcar operate at the curbs.
Since the rails have been installed, we know of bicyclists breaking collar bones, hips and losing front teeth due to crashes. Because everyone knew these types of events would occur, the Federal Transit Authority required an improved parallel route for bicyclists. That’s Cass Avenue.
Any discussion about motorists' discomfort with the new Cass should be weighed against bicyclists' sacrifices on Woodward. While every road user group has made compromises with the redesign of Cass and Woodward, cyclists' crashes and injuries from QLine rails are atop the list.
But let’s also address other bike lane grievances.
No one uses them
Clearly that's untrue. Back in September 2015, we took bicycle counts on Cass and recorded 300 in 24 hours on a Wednesday. We probably missed another 100 who rode on the sidewalk. That’s comparable to bike counts on the Dequindre Cut at Gratiot.
With the new Cass lanes, we expect its counts to be much higher. Automated bike counters are being installed and we should have real data this summer.
Drivers lose a lane
Some segments of Cass south of I-75 did lose a lane in each direction, but traffic counts showed they were not necessary to handle the traffic volumes.
Most of Cass was and still is a two-lane road northbound and southbound. The lanes used to be wider and people would drive in the parking lanes. That option has been removed.
The expected result is more motorists will drive the speed limit and there will be fewer sideswipes from cars passing other cars on the right. Lower speeds bring a significantly safer environment for all modes, but especially pedestrians and bicyclists. Lower travel speeds also improve sales for businesses along the streets, too.
Narrower lanes mean a much shorter crossing distance for pedestrians.
Car doors open into traffic
This is not new. Previously, motorists could swing open their doors without looking and not get hit by another car due to the over-sized vehicle lanes. Narrower widths make it more important to look before opening a door into traffic. Opening a door into oncoming cars and bicyclists is illegal.
Ideally, there would have been more room for parking so people would be more comfortable exiting their cars, but there wasn’t enough room. This was one compromise among many.
We recommend leaning over to open a door with your right hand, which automatically turns your eyes toward the traffic lane over your left shoulder.
Bicyclists' grievances
We also hear complaints about maintenance of the new lanes with respect to debris and snow. The Detroit Department of Public Works says this month's snow has been a major learning lesson. Detroit will eventually get past this, as other cities have.
Motorists are parking and sometimes driving in bike lanes. From what we see, there's not much enforcement during a grace period to allow time for motorists to learn how to drive and park legally -- but that won't last forever.
If there are design deficiencies at specific locations, such as bad sight lines, the city has shown interest in tweaking the design to make it better. And it will get better. It’s part of our mission to make certain.
Bike lanes are the new roundabouts. Everyone will eventually figure this out. We'll all work together to try make that happen sooner than later.
